-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- In 2007 and 2008 , the American economy suffered through its greatest crisis since the Great Depression . The Treasury Department estimates that from 2007 to 2009 , the heart of the Great Recession , more than 8.8 million American jobs disappeared and more than $ 19 trillion in household wealth was lost .

In response to the crisis , the federal government took steps to reform our financial system , most significantly , passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act . Signed into law by President Barack Obama four years ago Monday , this bill was designed to improve accountability and transparency in our financial system , ensuring we never again face a financial crisis of this magnitude .

Regrettably , Dodd-Frank has done little to address the root causes of this crisis . Instead , by institutionalizing bailouts and undermining a competitive and fair marketplace , this law has joined Obamacare as another example of big government overreach that has ultimately done more harm than good for the American people .

Wall Street reform law only half done

At 849 pages , Dodd-Frank touches nearly every aspect of our financial system , from capital ratios of large financial institutions down to new rules on the credit cards most Americans have in their wallets .

Dodd-Frank has only grown larger since Obama signed it . Much of the statutory text tasks Washington bureaucrats with writing nearly 400 rules . As of the first of this month , law firm Davis Polk reported 45 % of rulemaking deadlines have been missed .

Since its enactment , Dodd-Frank has imposed $ 21.8 billion in compliance costs while producing regulations that require nearly 60 million hours of paperwork with which to comply , according to estimates by the American Action Forum , a center-right policy institute .

These compliance costs can be devastating to small community banks and credit unions . Often they are the only financial institutions serving small towns and rural areas such as those throughout my district in western North Carolina . Assuming these small institutions can withstand this Dodd-Frank-induced regulatory onslaught and stay in business , they will join larger banks in passing these added costs along to consumers , driving up the cost of borrowing and reducing access to much-needed credit .

Among the great indignities of the financial crisis : American families were footing the bill for the massive taxpayer-funded bailouts of Fannie Mae , Freddie Mac and other large financial institutions while struggling to scrape by in the broken economy . In 2009 , Bloomberg estimated that the U.S. government and other federal agencies had committed nearly $ 13 trillion to support these failing institutions . The nearly $ 13 trillion represented 90 % of the U.S. gross domestic product for 2008 .

In signing the law , Obama claimed that never again would the American people foot the bill for these large firms . Yet amazingly Dodd-Frank does not just fail to end these bailouts , it cements them into law and greatly increases the likelihood the American people will be stuck with the federal government 's bailout tab again in the future .

In addition to an alphabet soup of new agencies , such as FSOC -LRB- Financial Stability Oversight Council -RRB- and OFR -LRB- Office of Financial Research -RRB- , Dodd-Frank also gave us the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau , a uniquely -LRB- some might say dangerously -RRB- unaccountable addition to our federal bureaucracy . Designed with the noble goal of consumer protection , the agency was given significant power to regulate financial offerings but was designed in a manner to leave it free of oversight from both the White House and Congress .

Among the agency 's `` accomplishments '' is its qualified mortgage rule that has negatively affected credit availability in the mortgage market . The rule has especially harmed those who have typically struggled to access credit in the past , women and minorities . A recent report from the Federal Reserve Board showed roughly one-third of black and Hispanic borrowers would not qualify for mortgages under the rule .

Even more troubling is the bureau 's latest project , the National Mortgage Database . In an apparent effort to make the National Security Agency jealous , this database will track individual Americans and their personally identifiable information , including the most intimate personal and financial details , going back as far as 30 years .

And this does not even begin to address the consumer agency 's management failures that have led to claims of discrimination and retaliation against minority employees going unpunished and spending $ 216 million to renovate its rented office space .

Put simply , Dodd-Frank is but another failed big government `` reform '' -- just like Obamacare , the Troubled Asset Relief Program , or TARP , and the stimulus . When will this administration realize more government does not solve problems , it is the problem ?

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Rep. Patrick McHenry : Wall Street reform law is n't working four years after enactment

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He says Dodd-Frank law has imposed billions in costs and millions of hours of extra work

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McHenry argues it is another example of big government overreach